MY LAST ROSIE POST (unless she apologizes)

Asian Leaders Angered by Rosie O'Donnell's 'Ching Chong' Comments
Monday , December 11, 2006
By Sara Bonisteel

NEW YORK — Note to Rosie O'Donnell: Stick to singsong.

"The View" co-host is in hot water for using the expression "ching chong" to describe Chinese people talking about Danny DeVito's drunken appearance on her show.

"The fact is that it's news all over the world. That you know, you can imagine in China it's like: 'Ching chong … ching chong. Danny DeVito, ching chong, chong, chong, chong. Drunk. 'The View.' Ching chong," O'Donnell said on a Dec. 5 episode of "The View."

The statement didn't sit well with John C. Liu, a New York City councilman, who fired off a letter to "View" co-host Barbara Walters.

"The 'ching-chong' bit is not a trivial matter," Liu told FOXNews.com. "It really hits a raw nerve for many people in the community — many like myself, who grew up with these kinds of taunts. We all know that it never ends at the taunts."

Liu isn't the only one offended.

The Asian American Journalists Association called O'Donnell's comments a "mockery" that gives "the impression that [Asian Americans] are a group that is substandard to English-speaking people."

Liu said his office has received complaints from around the New York area following the appearance. He directed his letter to Walters instead of O'Donnell because as producer of the show, he said, she ought to know better.

"It's just stupidity, and it's stupidity that justifies a response," Liu said of O'Donnell's behavior, adding the comments came "from someone who has been indignant herself when it comes to comments made by other people where she has perceived it as being negative against a particular community."

In November, O'Donnell made up with Kelly Ripa, co-host of "Live With Regis and Kelly," after accusing her of homophobia for pushing Clay Aiken's hand away from her mouth on the program.

O'Donnell remains unfazed.

"She's a comedian in addition to being a talk show co-host," Cindi Berger, O'Donnell's spokeswoman, said in a statement. "I certainly hope that one day they will be able to grasp her humor."

On Dec. 8, O'Donnell wrote in her blog "it was not my intent to mock." She clarified her position on Dec. 10, calling the bit "comedy."

"I do many accents and probably will continue to," she wrote. "My mom in law impression offends some southerners. What can u do? I come in peace."

O'Donnell is not the first comedian to raise the ire of the Asian-American community.
In 2001, Sarah Silverman told a joke on "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" that had the punch line "I love Chinks."

The NBC program issued an apology to Guy Aoki, the president of the Media Action Network for Asian Americans, following Silverman's appearance.

Liu is still waiting for an apology for O'Donnell's comments.

"I think an acknowledgement that it was a mistake would be very much appreciated by the community," he said.

PROTEST FOR SEX TRAFFICKING REPORTS

This is being sent to all of the AAJA (Asian American Journalists Association) members:

Korean Americans' Protest of SF Chronicle Sex Trafficking Series Yields Results

AAJA acknowledges the impact community initiatives have on media coverage.
A four-part series, "Diary of a Sex Slave," recently published in the San Francisco Chronicle has caught the ire of members, friends and supporters of the Bay Area's Korean American community. The article by Meredith May, chronicles the life and experiences of a South Korean woman who was lured and forced into prostitution in San Francisco by sex traffickers.
Community members said that the article about one individual "gave disproportionate emphasis to a small immigrant segment of the overall Korean American population in San Francisco and California, the vast majority of whom are well-educated professionals and hardworking families." They also said that the series includes many cultural inaccuracies and paints a distorted picture of Busan, South Korea - the hometown of the article's main subject.
More than 40 Korean American organizations and individuals signed on to a letter-response to the series, demanding a public apology from the Chronicle. The open letter, published in Asian Week, (see link below), was also printed by the San Francisco Chronicle in its editorial and opinion page. Community representatives also met with the paper's management and editorial staff to present a list of demands. AAJA asked San Francisco Chronicle editor Phil Bronstein to comment on the meeting with the community representatives, and he had this to say.
Links
Asian Week: An Open Letter to San Franciscans
Coalition statement and demands
Asian Week: Emil Guillermo: Sex Not Necessary to Be Slave to Immigration

To read the whole series, go to: http://www.sfgate.com/sextrafficking/

H-O-T-T

I do deliver, as promised! Here's to my friends who keep asking to see a picture of Jim. This was taken from the Sheraton Waikiki in late June. We were there for "business"--the Asian American Journalists Association Convention. Ahem, the only lessons he took were surfing and scuba.